The Center for Cultural and Scientific Activities of Temple of Literature – Quoc Tu Giam has collaborated with Gavisto Diplomat to launch “Cultural Space of Quoc Tu Giam”.
Temple of Literature – Quoc Tu Giam has long been familiar to Vietnamese people, becoming an unmissable destination when tourists come to Hanoi, as well as a place for the people of the capital to visit on public holidays.
As a special national relic, the first university of Vietnam, the Temple of Literature – Quoc Tu Giam is the place where our country’s learning values have been fostered over the centuries. The birth of Quoc Tu Giam in the 11th century became a cultural phenomenon, the active choice of the Vietnamese people in receiving the cultural quintessence from other countries based on the well-established Vietnamese culture. Since then, through many ups and downs, Temple of Literature has become the school of Hoai Duc. With a very important position, overcoming many challenges, the Temple of Literature – Quoc Tu Giam has become a relic full of values with intense vitality which have been confirmed. However, it is difficult for managers as well as heritage lovers to spread those values to the community. It is not simple to make the Temple of Literature – Quoc Tu Giam not only a place for tourists to visit once but to make it a lively cultural space, thereby, conveying the good cultural values of the Temple of Literature – Quoc Tu Giam, of Vietnamese learning spirit.
Director of Center for Cultural and Scientific Activities of Temple of Literature – Quoc Tu Giam Le Xuan Kieu said: “During the quarantine period, the Temple of Literature – Quoc Tu Giam could not receive visitors, revenue decreased, and workers encountered many difficulties. However, we consider this a quiet time, focusing on researching values to build products to serve visitors when the relic is reopened. We have been trying to innovate our operations. Temple of Literature – Quoc Tu Giam is the place to nurture traditional values that have survived over time. Talking about renewal, first of all, it is required to follow the principle of preserving the things of the tradition, recognizing what is not properly identified, for example, touching the turtle heads, Ha Ma Stele ceremony… The value of the Temple of Literature is in the spirit of respecting the teacher, respecting the religion, respecting the talents… The doctoral stele is the commandment for scholars on serving the country after passing exams… Refreshing means a way to bring that value closer to visitors so that they understand better and behave relics with right actions”.
On September 26, Center for Cultural and Scientific Activities of Temple of Literature – Quoc Tu Giam in collaboration with Gavisto Diplomat discussed with the theme “Awakening the potential of Vietnamese culture” to find out the directions for preserving and spreading the spirit and values of learning.
Mr. Truong Quoc Toan – Advisor for activities of promoting tourism values of the Temple of Literature – Quoc Tu Giam said that cultural tourism activities tend to be personalized so that tourists will visit by themselves thanks to online services and this trend will grow stronger in the post-Covid era. Besides, the trend of digitization and technology also makes the travel experience during sightseeing more attractive. That requires the attractions to change and transform accordingly. With the strong development of the digital space today, the Temple of Literature – Quoc Tu Giam needs to have a more open mind, breaking down the wall in thought, concept and in the digital space. For a long time, the relic welcome visitors who visit only but rarely come back. So, how do we attract the visitors to return? The answer is participating in cultural activities at the relic such as participating in talks, exchange activities, exhibitions and art performances? This effort should continue at three stages: Before they arrive – Entering the relic – Leaving the relic. What information do they need before entering the relic, what do they see when entering the relic and what do they have after they leave…?
Mr. Truong Quoc Toan also had suggestions on organizing contests to learn and create comics based on stele content, developing a system of friends of the Temple of Literature, issuing membership cards with incentives… to attract visitors weekly and monthly…
Recently, Center for Cultural and Scientific Activities of Temple of Literature – Quoc Tu Giam in collaboration with Gavisto Diplomat to launch the Quoc Tu Giam Cultural Space. The project aims to turn the relic into an open space, a common place for many heritage-loving ideas in general. In less than a month, the project received 1,500 participants on social networks. The information posted about history, culture, learning, academic tradition… received a lot of interaction. This is one of the research works of the Center for Cultural and Scientific Activities of Temple of Literature – Quoc Tu Giam to bring Van Mieu – Quoc Tu Giam closer to the public.
Hoang Doan Trang, co-founder of the Gavisto Diplomat Project – a unit in collaboration with the Center for Cultural and Scientific Activities of the Temple of Literature – Quoc Tu Giam in implementing the Quoc Tu Giam Cultural Space said that this project, in addition to preserving the traditions and cultural values of the old Quoc Tu Giam School, is also aimed at providing knowledge of Vietnamese history in the most systematic, interesting and friendly way, helping young people arouse their love for the history and culture of their country and join hands in preserving and inheriting those values. “The activity of the Temple of Literature is to worship the Saints of Confucianism. Quoc Tu Giam was formerly a school, mainly for teaching and cultural activities. After the exchange, we came up with an idea of separating educational and cultural activities at spaces such as Thai Hoc house, Vuon Giam and Ho Van, bringing these places back to their former duties of culture and education and organizing cultural activities, preserving and spreading the spirit and values of learning” – Ms. Hoang Doan Trang added.
Mr. Le Xuan Kieu also said that in the coming time, the Center for Cultural and Scientific Activities of Temple of Literature – Quoc Tu Giam will digitize the entire relic; promote the diversification of activities so that the relic becomes a regular destination of the community, with weekly and monthly activities; promote links with other relic sites; widely apply technology to introduce the relic… Mr. Le Xuan Kieu also said that Temple of Literature – Quoc Tu Giam has done a number of things, but still needs the input of experts and researchers to become more alive.
TN